Waiting for Godot author. Godot will be tomorrow

En attendant Godot.

The name of the famous play(1952) Irish writer and playwright - winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1969) Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), typical of the theater of the absurd. The main characters of the play, vagabonds Vladimir and Estragon, spend their time agonizingly waiting for a certain Godot, who never appears on stage.

Vladimir: - Why are we here - that's the question. Fortunately, we know the answer. Yes, yes, in this monstrous confusion, only one thing is clear: we are here to wait for Godot to come. How many can say the same?

Estragon: - Millions.

On the one hand, the author likens the entire human life the eternal expectation of something that never happens, on the other - Godot, according to Beckett, is a symbol of the “inexpressible”, which cannot be described in words, like the meaning itself human existence. Therefore, when asked who he meant by the name Godot, the playwright replied: "If I knew, I would write about it in the play."
The heroes of the play “Waiting for Godot” Vladimir and Estragon seem to be stuck in time, nailed to one place by waiting for a certain Godot, meeting with whom, in their opinion, will bring meaning to their senseless existence and save them from the threats of the hostile world around them. The plot of the play does not lend itself to an unambiguous interpretation. The viewer, at his own discretion, can define Godot as specific person, God, strong personality, Death, etc.

A few words from me...before I post summary this play...
This piece is simply amazing...
There is no end to the story, because there is no way out of the vicious circle, and waiting has no alternative either...
How can I help someone else get up if I myself have nothing to rely on? ..

Retold by O. E. Grinberg

Estragon sits on a hillock and unsuccessfully tries to pull off his shoe. Vladimir enters and says that he is glad that Estragon has returned: he already thought that he had disappeared forever. Estragon himself thought so. He spent the night in a ditch, he was beaten - he didn't even notice who. Vladimir argues that it is difficult to endure all this alone. It was necessary to think earlier, if they had rushed a long time ago, back in the nineties, eiffel tower upside down, they would be among the first, and now they won’t even be allowed upstairs. Vladimir takes off his hat, shakes it, but nothing falls out of it. Vladimir notices that, apparently, it's not about the shoe: Estragon just has such a leg. Vladimir thoughtfully says that one of the robbers was saved, and invites Estragon to repent. He recalls the Bible and is surprised that out of the four evangelists, only one speaks of the salvation of the thief, and for some reason everyone believes him. Estragon offers to leave, but Vladimir believes that it is impossible to leave, because they are waiting for Godot, and if he does not come today, then it will be necessary to wait for him here tomorrow Godot promised to come on Saturday. Estragon and Vladimir no longer remember whether they were waiting for Godot yesterday, they don't remember if today is Saturday or some other day. Estragon dozes off, but Vladimir immediately gets lonely and wakes up his friend. Estragon suggests they hang themselves, but they can't decide who hangs themselves first, and in the end they decide not to do anything, because it's safer that way. They will wait for Godot and get his opinion. They can't remember what they asked Godou for, it seems like they were making some kind of vague plea to him. Godou replied that he should think, consult with his family, write to someone, rummage through literature, check bank accounts, and only then make a decision.

A piercing scream is heard. Vladimir and Estragon, clinging to each other, freeze with fear. Lucky enters with a suitcase, a folding chair, a basket of food, and a coat; around his neck is a rope, the end of which is held by Pozzo. Pozzo cracks his whip and urges Lucky on, scolding him for what it's worth. Estragon timidly asks Pozzo if he is Godot, but Pozzo doesn't even know who Godot is. Pozzo travels alone and is glad to meet his own kind, that is, those who are created in the image and likeness of God. He cannot go long without society. Deciding to sit down, he tells Lucky to get a chair. Lucky puts the suitcase and basket on the ground, walks over to Pozzo, unfolds a chair, then steps back and picks up the suitcase and basket again. Pozzo is dissatisfied: the chair should be moved closer. Lucky puts the suitcase and basket down again, walks over, rearranges the chair, then picks up the suitcase and basket again. Vladimir and Estragon are perplexed: why doesn't Lucky put things on the ground, why does he keep them in his hands all the time? Pozzo is taken for food. After eating a chicken, he throws its bones on the ground and lights his pipe. Estragon timidly asks if he wants the bones. Pozzo replies that they belong to the porter, but if Lucky refuses them, Estragon can take them. Since Lucky is silent, Tarragon picks up the bones and begins to gnaw on them. Vladimir is outraged by the cruelty of Pozzo: is it possible to treat a person like that? Pozzo, oblivious to their condemnation, decides to smoke another pipe. Vladimir and Estragon want to leave, but Pozzo invites them to stay, because otherwise they will not meet Godot, who is so expected.

Estragon tries to find out from Pozzo why Lucky doesn't put down his suitcases. After he repeats his question several times, Pozzo finally replies that Lucky has the right to put heavy things on the ground, and if he doesn't, then he doesn't want to. He probably hopes to soften Pozzo so that Pozzo does not drive him away. To sense from Lucky as from a goat of milk, he can’t cope with the work, so Pozzo decided to get rid of him, but out of the kindness of his soul, instead of just throwing Lucky out, he takes him to the fair in the hope of getting him good price. Pozzo thinks the best thing would be to kill Lucky. Lucky is crying. Estragon takes pity on him and wants to wipe away his tears, but Lucky kicks him with all his might. Estragon cries in pain. Pozzo notices that Lucky stopped crying and Estragon started, so the number of tears in the world always stays the same. Likewise with laughter. Pozzo says that Lucky taught him all these wonderful things, because they have been together for sixty years. He tells Lucky to take off his hat. Under the hat, Lucky has long gray hair. When Pozzo himself takes off his hat, it turns out that he is completely bald. Pozzo cries, saying that he can't go with Lucky, can't take him anymore. Vladimir reproaches Lucky for torturing such a kind owner. Pozzo calms down and asks Vladimir and Estragon to forget everything he told them. Pozzo delivers a rant about the beauty of dusk. Estragon and Vladimir are bored. To entertain them, Pozzo is ready to order Lucky to sing, dance, recite or think. Estragon wants Lucky to dance and then think. Lucky dances, then thinks aloud. He delivers a long scientifically abstruse monologue, devoid of any meaning. Finally Pozzo and Lucky leave. Estragon also wants to leave, but Vladimir stops him: after all, they are waiting for Godot. A boy comes and says that Godou asked me to tell you that today he will not come, but he will definitely come tomorrow. The night is coming. Estragon decides not to wear his shoes anymore, let someone who fits them take them. And he will walk barefoot, like Christ. Estragon tries to remember how many years they have known Vladimir. Vladimir believes that fifty years. Estragon remembers how he once threw himself into the Rhone, and Vladimir caught him, but Vladimir does not want to stir up the past. They think about whether to leave them, but decide that it is not worth it yet. "Well, let's go?" Estragon says. “Let's go,” Vladimir replies. Both don't move.

The next day. Same hour. The same place, but on the tree, on the eve of a completely bare, several leaves appeared. Vladimir enters, examines Estragon's shoes standing in the middle of the stage, then peers tensely into the distance. When the barefoot Estragon appears, Vladimir rejoices at his return and wants to hug him. At first, he does not let him near him, but soon softens, and they rush into each other's arms. Estragon was beaten again. Vladimir takes pity on him. They are better off alone, but still they come here every day and convince themselves that they are glad to see each other. Estraton asks what to do with them, since they are so happy. Vladimir offers to wait for Godot. A lot has changed since yesterday: leaves have appeared on the tree. But Estragon does not remember what happened yesterday, he does not even remember Pozzo and Lucky. Vladimir and Estragon decide to talk calmly, since they do not know how to be silent. Chatter the most suitable occupation not to think and not to listen. Some kind of deaf voices seem to them, and they discuss them for a long time, then decide to start all over again, but starting is the most difficult thing, and although you can start with anything, you still have to choose what exactly. It's too early to despair. The trouble is that thoughts still prevail. Estragon is sure that he and Vladimir were not here yesterday. They were in some other hole and chatted all evening about this and that and continue to chat for a year. Estragon says that the shoes on the stage are not his, they are of a completely different color. Vladimir assumes that someone who was pressed for shoes took Estragon's shoes, but left his own. Estragon cannot understand why someone needs his shoes, because they also stung. “You, not him,” explains Vladimir. Estragon tries to understand Vladimir's words, but to no avail. He is tired and wants to leave, but Vladimir says that he must not leave, he must wait for Godot.

Vladimir notices Lucky's hat, and he and Estragon put on all three hats in turn, passing them to each other: their own and Lucky's hat. They decide to play Pozzo and Lucky, but suddenly Estragon notices that someone is coming. Vladimir hopes that it is Godot, but then it turns out that someone is coming from the other side too. Fearing that they are surrounded, the friends decide to hide, but no one comes: probably Estragon just imagined. Not knowing what to do, Vladimir and Estragon either quarrel or reconcile. Enter Pozzo and Lucky. Pozzo is blind. Lucky carries the same things, but now the rope is shorter to make it easier for Pozzo to follow Lucky. Lucky falls, dragging Pozzo with him. Lucky falls asleep and Pozzo tries to get up but can't. Realizing that Pozzo is in their power, Vladimir and Estragon consider on what terms it is worth helping him. Pozzo promises a hundred, then two hundred francs for help. Vladimir tries to pick him up, but he falls down himself. Estragon is ready to help Vladimir get up if after that they leave here and do not return. Estragon tries to lift Vladimir up, but he cannot stay on his feet and also falls. Pozzo crawls away. Estragon no longer remembers his name, and decides to call him different names until one fits. "Abel!" he shouts to Pozzo. In response, Pozzo calls for help. "Cain!" - Cree Chit Tarragon Lucky. But Pozzo responds again and again calls for help. “In one - all of humanity,” Estragon is amazed. Estragon and Vladimir get up. Estragon wants to leave, but Vladimir reminds him that they are waiting for Godot. Thinking, they help Pozzo to his feet. He does not stand on his feet, and they have to support him. Looking at the sunset, they argue for a long time whether it is evening or morning, sunset or sunrise. Pozzo asks to wake up Lucky. Estragon showers Lucky with a hail of blows, he stands up and collects his luggage. Pozzo and Lucky are about to go. Vladimir asks what Lucky has in his suitcase and where they are going. Pozzo replies that there is sand in the suitcase and they move on. Vladimir asks Lucky to sing before leaving, but Pozzo claims that Lucky is mute. "How long ago?" - Vladimir is surprised. Pozzo is losing his patience. Why is he tormented by questions about time? A long time ago, recently… Everything happens one day, like all the others. We were born on the same day and we will die on the same day, in the same second. Exeunt Pozzo and Lucky. A roar is heard behind the stage: it is clear that they have fallen again. Estragon dozes off, but Vladimir gets lonely and wakes up Estragon. Vladimir cannot understand where is the dream, where is the reality: maybe he is actually sleeping? And when tomorrow he wakes up, or it seems to him that he woke up, what will he know about today, except that he and Estragon have been waiting for Godot until nightfall? The boy comes. It seems to Vladimir that this is the same boy who came yesterday, but the boy says that he came for the first time. Godou asked me to tell him that he would not come today, but he would definitely come tomorrow.

Estragon and Vladimir want to hang themselves, but they don't have a strong rope. Tomorrow they will bring the rope, and if Godot does not come again, they will hang themselves. They decide to disperse for the night so that they can return in the morning and wait for Godot again. "Let's go," says Vladimir. "Yes, let's go," Estragon agrees. Both don't budge.

What helps a person to live?
Hope?
We all hope and believe that Godot will definitely come, even if not today, maybe tomorrow, but he will definitely come. long long life waiting for Godot. We wear jackets,
shoes rub our feet, we quarrel over trifles, we “philosophize” about the “eternal”, we laugh at others, less often at ourselves, we don’t get what we expected from life, we fall into despair, life begins to seem like a meaningless undertaking, complete absurdity or becomes absurd, or maybe neither one nor the other, but something third or fourth. We are not satisfied with ourselves and others. We suffer. And what about Godot? Does he remember us? Does he know that we are still alive? And we are waiting for him.

Boy: What should I tell Monsieur Godot, Monsieur?
Vladimir: Tell him... (thinks). Tell him that you saw us... (pause) You saw us, didn't you?

True! We still exist! We are here at this weeping willow, or aspen, or elderberry, trying on Judas' rope on it, waiting for Godot. Homeless and lonely.
DO YOU STILL LOVE US, GODO?

Vladimir: He won't come today.
Boy: No, monsieur.
Vladimir: But he will come tomorrow.
Boy: Yes, monsieur.
Vladimir: Definitely.
Boy: Yes, monsieur.

What helps a person to live?
HOPE!!!

Vladimir: Tomorrow we will hang ourselves. (Pause) Unless, of course, Godot comes.
Estragon: And if he comes?
Vladimir: Then we are saved.
Estragon: Well, let's go?
Vladimir: First, pull up your trousers.
Estragon: What?
Vladimir: Pull up your pants.
Estragon: Pull off your pants?
Vladimir: Pull up your pants!
tarragon: You're right. (Pulls up his trousers.)
Pause.
Vladimir: Well, let's go?
Estragon: Let's go.
Do not budge. Curtain.

Play in Russian => http://beerlady.narod.ru/literatura/bekket_godo.html

I recently attended a play based on Samuel Beckett's play "Waiting for Godot" staged by the production center "Mire Noir".
The plot of the production may seem unusual and interesting because it cannot be unambiguously explained. At first, it’s even a little clear what is happening on stage, but after the end I want to read Beckett.
Who is the mysterious Mr. Godot, why are they waiting for him and will they wait? There are many questions. What will be the answers?

Irish writer Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) is one of the founders of the theater of the absurd. In 1953, the premiere of his play "Waiting for Godot" (En attendant Godot) took place in Paris, which would later be called a classic not only of the "theater of the absurd", but of all world literature of the second half of the 20th century.
After the premiere, the author will translate the play into English (Beckett wrote in two languages), and in 1969 he will receive Nobel Prize on literature.

There are only 5 characters in the play. A couple of main characters - Vladimir and Estragon, the mysterious characters of Pozzo and Lucky, as well as the Boy, a messenger from the no less mysterious Monsieur Godot.

1. Starring - Igor Nevedrov (Vladimir and Pozzo) and Azamat Tsaliti (Estragon and Lucky) - students of Elena Boldina from the Roman Viktyuk Theater, graduates of the music department of GITIS

2. From the first minutes, the viewer is completely immersed in the play. Like the characters, our world shrinks, time stops. We get stuck somewhere in an incomprehensible place and together with Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo) we are waiting for a certain "Monsieur Godot". For heroes who apparently are not doing well, this expectation becomes the meaning of life, and everything else becomes completely unimportant.

3. On the stage, the minimum number of not only actors, but also props. Minimalism, philosophy and innovation are constant both in Beckett's works and in productions based on them.

4. Didi and Gogo while away the time talking, sometimes not understanding and not listening to each other. The audience, too, can only wait with them and try to understand the essence of what is happening.

10. Getting acquainted with Godot in absentia, the viewer begins to ask two questions. Who is this mysterious monsieur and when will he come? As events unfold, a third one also arises - but will it come at all? The intrigue persists throughout the performance. Hopes that the heroes will finally tell us more about everything are not justified, and the answers do not appear.

12. Then we (simultaneously with the heroes) get acquainted with two more unusual characters- Pozzo and Lucky

13. It is not known who they are, who they are to each other, where and why they are going. It only seems that Lucky is completely subordinate to Pozzi.
We are introduced to them in the same way as before to others - through the characters' own phrases, thoughts about them and emerging feelings.

21. When Pozzo gets tired of communicating with the main characters, he begins to strongly scold Lucky, and then invites him to dance. Later, Lucky gets tired, and the couple leaves, and the main characters are left to wait again.

23. In the course of the performance, another character appears - a shepherd boy. He brings good news: Godot will come tomorrow. It looks like the boy knows him. By the way, here the authors of the production disagree with Beckett. The writer believed that women should not play in the theater, but we see a girl, Maria Simakova, in the role of the Herald.
At the end of the performance, there was even a vote among the audience whether Beckett was right. What do you think, what is the result?

26. At some point, the veil of isolation falls off - Estragon gets bored with everything and decides to leave. The truth subsides temporarily - in the morning Gogo returns. Plus, he's beaten. We will not know what happened, but according to the victim himself, ten people attacked him on the way.
Then we see Pozzo and Lucky again. Only they have changed a lot - Pozzo is blind, and Lucky is dumb. The conversation does not come out - they do not even recognize the main characters and leave.

Everything is very similar to the same type of passing life with faith in something and expectation. It drags on endlessly, only the person waiting and those around him changes due to some circumstances.

Infinity also emphasizes the fact that the boy comes running again and announces a new visit from Godot. Today he did not come, but promised to come again tomorrow. Again promises. Wait and hope again

29. Heroes in despair. They decide to go in search of a rope to hang themselves if Monsieur Godot does not come tomorrow. But the play ends with the words "they don't move." Any development of events returns everything and everyone to their original position, which was at the beginning. No one knows if Didi and Gogo will be released from their position or not.

Photos: Ivan Gushchin

Neither the author, nor the heroes of the play, nor the actors give us an answer who Godot is, why they are waiting for him and why they are associated with him. best hopes. We don’t even know who Didi and Gogo are, let alone what kind of characters Pozzia and Lucky are. Only tense expectation and a closed composition. The play can go on endlessly, but everyone must answer the questions and draw conclusions.

Personally, Godot seems to me the hope of any person from any country for a better life. What it will be, everyone decides for himself. But for many it is often not enough. People live with such hope throughout their lives. Therefore, it is no longer important here what the waiting person is. There are many like him, and the personality fades into the background. In the play, this is emphasized by the fact that we do not know anything about Didi and Gogo.

Meeting others in life, we intersect with them on some life stages and then we part ways. We may not think about others, but interact with them only at certain moments in life. Here it is represented by a meeting with the incomprehensible Pozzo and Lucky.

Give extra faith various events- some achievements of the person himself, the actions of the authorities, the prevailing circumstances, or even big words. All this in the play is combined into a single whole - a messenger boy, the hope that expectations will come true. The words of the Herald "Godot will come tomorrow" sound encouraging. Here, soon, tomorrow, a little bit left! The heroes gain confidence, but tomorrow comes and everything starts anew. Alas, this is not yet reality, but only illusions and hopes.

However, under no circumstances and no matter who is standing next to us, our goals, dreams and expectations do not go anywhere. Failures sometimes make you go "looking for a rope", but this can all be just an emotional outburst. We calm down and everything returns to its positions. Maybe that's why the characters "do not budge" and why the play has such a composition? By the way, you can also remember the time of writing "Godo" - the beginning of the 1950s, when many people associated the end of World War II with the beginning a better life.

Of course, it is impossible to argue unambiguously here. It would be interesting to hear other opinions.

Thank you CEO production center "Mire Noir" Marina Ferder for organizing the shooting.

Beckett is a writer of desperation. He does not go to self-satisfied epochs. But his almost indistinguishable voice is heard when we stop believing that "man - it sounds proud." In any case, historical cataclysms help critics interpret Becket's incomprehensible masterpieces, about which the author himself never spoke.

A trip to Germany in 1936-1937 plays a certain role in Beckett's life. Germany was saturated with the spirit of fascism, and Beckett was always disgusted with any manifestations of xenophobia, so he finds an outlet in the works of the old masters.

Two paintings especially amaze him: a self-portrait by Giorgione and Caspar David Friedrich's Two Men Contemplating the Moon. A person is lonely, closed in on himself, communication between people is impossible - Beckett finds confirmation of this thought in contemplating Friedrich's painting, which depicts two human figures flooded with moonlight, strikingly similar to Vladimir and Estragon, frozen in anticipation of Godot.

International recognition of the writer brought this play "Waiting for Godot" ("En Attendant Godot"), written in 1949 and published in English in 1954. From now on, Beckett is considered the leading playwright of the theater of the absurd. The first staging of the play in Paris is carried out, in close cooperation with the author, by director Roger Blain.

The play "Waiting for Godot" made a splash. The remark of one of the heroes "Nothing happens, no one comes, no one leaves - it's terrible" became calling card Beckett. Harold Pinter said that "Godot" forever changed the theater, and the famous French playwright Jean Anouille called the premiere of this play "the most important in forty years."

In "Godo" they see the quintessence of Beckett: behind longing and horror human being in its most unattractively honest form, the inevitable irony emerges.

"Waiting for Godot" is a static play, the events in it seem to go in a circle: the second act repeats the first only with minor changes. To aggravate the suffocating atmosphere of pessimism, Beckett inserted elements of musical comedy and several lyrical passages. "This play forced me to reconsider the laws by which the drama was built before," wrote the English critic Kenneth Tynan. "I had to admit that these laws are not flexible enough."

Thus, "Waiting for Godot" was considered by many to be a military drama, allegorically describing the experience of the French Resistance, in which Beckett took part. War, veterans say, is above all a stupefying expectation of an end.

"Waiting for Godot" has no plot: a static situation is considered.

The main characters of the play "Waiting for Godot" - Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo) seem to be stuck in time, nailed to one place waiting for a certain Godot, a meeting with whom, in their opinion, will bring meaning to their meaningless existence and save them from the threats of a hostile the surrounding world. Over the course of some time, two more strange and ambiguous characters appear - Pozzo and Lucky. It is rather difficult to determine their relationship with each other, on the one hand, Lucky is a silent and weak-willed slave of Pozzi, on the other hand, his former teacher- but such an interpretation is doubtful.

During the whole play, a boy appears twice, who allegedly comes from Godot and says that he will come tomorrow, but today he will not be. The second time he talks to them like strangers. they also meet Pozzo and Lucky for the second time. But this time Pozzo is blind and Lucky is mute. And they don't recognize the main characters either.

The heroes decide to go in search of a rope to hang themselves if Monsieur Godot does not come tomorrow. But the play ends with the words "they don't move."

"Waiting for Godot" is an account of what happens (and nothing happens) when they finally "stabilize" at one arbitrary point in space. The whole world shrinks to the size of this point, which seems to exist outside of time.

Beckett has said that he began writing Waiting for Godot to overcome the depression he was in while working on the Molloy trilogy. In fact, the rejection of the image of the external world, the desire to "impoverish" and "belittle" objective reality, the acceptance of ignorance and impotence as fundamental principle artistic creativity brought Beckett to the brink of mental collapse. The process of rebirth of the author into a scriptor led to the fact that the text became an independent reality, beyond the will of the writer.

Who is Godot? Who are Vladimir and Estragon waiting for?

Many ingenious attempts have been made to establish the etymology of the name Godot, to find out whether Beckett's intention was conscious or unconscious to make him the object of Vladimir and Estragon's search. It can be assumed that Godot is a weakened form of God, pet name by analogy, Pierre - Pierrot, Charles - Charlot, plus an association with the image of Charlie Chaplin, his little man, who in France is called Charlot; his bowler hat is worn by all four characters in the play. (note: S. Beckett was a fan of Charlie Chaplin's work). It has been suggested that the title of the play "Waiting for Godot" evokes an allusion to Simone Weil's book "Waiting for God", giving rise to another association: Godot is God.

As they say, how many people, so many opinions. Godot can be anyone, anything. But main theme play is not Godot, not the very fact of expectation. And the fact that we all wait for something throughout our lives, and Godot is the object of our expectation. Whether it is some event or thing, person, or death.

Moreover, in the act of waiting, the flow of time is felt in its purest, most visual form. If we are active, then we tend to forget about the passage of time, not paying attention to it, but if we are passive, then we are faced with the action of time.

And since the vow of waiting for Vladimir and Estragon is Godot, then naturally he is beyond their reach. Therefore, every time the boy comes to them and says that Godot will not come.

And yet, Vladimir and Estragon continue to hope and wait for Godot, "whose coming can stop the passage of time." "Maybe today we will sleep in his palace, warm, on dry straw, on a full stomach. That's what it means to wait, do you agree?" This line speaks of a thirst for rest from waiting, the feeling that you have gone to heaven; and Godot will leave it all to the vagrants. They hope to be saved from the frailty of the world and "the fragility of the illusion of time and to find peace and immutability of the external world." They will cease to be vagabonds, homeless wanderers and will find a home.

When Alan Schneider staged the play Waiting for Godot for the first time in America, he asked Beckett who Godot was or what Godot meant, the playwright replied: "If I knew, I would say about it in the play."

This is a useful warning to anyone who approaches Beckett's plays with the intention of finding the key to understanding them and finding out exactly what they mean.

The play has two acts. They are almost identical: they meet Pozzo and Lucky, the master and slave boy, who informs them that Godot will not come; two suicide attempts that end in failure, at the end of each act they are about to go and stay put. Only the sequence of events and dialogues in each act is different.

In constant verbal skirmishes, Vladimir and Estragon show personality traits. Vladimir is more practical, while Estragon claims to be a poet. Estragon says that the more carrots he eats, the less he likes them. Vladimir's reaction is the opposite: he likes everything familiar. Tarragon anemone, Vladimir is constant. Estragon is a dreamer, Vladimir cannot hear about dreams. Vladimir has bad breath, Estragon's feet stink. Vladimir remembers the past, Estragon instantly forgets everything. Estragon loves to talk funny stories, they piss Vladimir off. Vladimir hopes that Godot will come and their lives will change. Estragon is skeptical about this and sometimes forgets Godot's name. With the boy, the messenger of Godot, the conversation is led by Vladimir, and the boy addresses himself to him. Tarragon is mentally unstable; every night some unknown people they beat him. Sometimes Vladimir protects him, sings him a lullaby, covers him with his coat. The dissimilarity of temperaments leads to endless squabbles, and they now and then decide to disperse. They complement each other and therefore depend on each other and are doomed to never part.

A characteristic feature of the play is the assumption that the best way out of the situation of vagrants - and they say this - is to prefer suicide to the expectation of Godot: "We thought about this when the world was young, in the nineties. ... Join hands and jump from the Eiffel Tower among the first. Then we were still quite respectable. But now it's too late, they won't even let us in there." Committing suicide is their favorite solution, impracticable due to their incompetence and lack of tools for suicide. The fact that suicide fails every time, Vladimir and Estragon explain by expectation or simulate this expectation. "I wish I knew what he would propose. Then we would know whether to do it or not." Estragon has less hope for Godot than Vladimir, and he reassures himself that they don't owe him anything.

"Waiting for Godot" gives rise to a sense of uncertainty, its ebb and flow - from the hope of finding Godot's identity to endless disappointments, and this is the essence of the play. Any attempt to identify. Godot is speculative - the same stupidity as trying to find the contour of chiaroscuro in Rembrandt's painting, scraping off paint.

Chapter 3 Comparative analysis works

Ionesco's plays "The Bald Singer" (1949) and Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" (1952) are created almost simultaneously. They are referred to the main and demonstrative plays of the "theater of the absurd".

M. Esslin calls the motifs and techniques that unite these works “the rejection of the use of characters and the principle of motivation, the concentration of attention on the eternal states of the human mind and the departure from the development of the plot from exposition to the denouement, the devaluation of language as a means of communication and mutual understanding, the rejection of didactic goals ".

The general tragicomic attitude to the world as an incoherent system without stable spatio-temporal supports. In artistic terms, the primary task for these authors is to recreate broken connections in a different plane and by means different from those used by traditional art.

It should be emphasized common features plays to understand what is the essence of the "absurd" drama.

1) the theme of disorganized time.

There is no local and historical concreteness in the plays.

And in "The Bald Singer" and "Waiting for Godot" was not chronological order. In Ionesco's play, the clock on the wall always showed an absurd time, lived on its own. Or, 4 years after death, the corpse turns out to be warm, and they bury it six months after death. And in Beckett's play between the first and second acts, supposedly, a day passes. But in reality, no one knows how much time passes.

2) the problem of language as a means of reflecting, describing and recreating oneself and the world around

Ionesco's play belongs to the period of his work, which can be called "linguistic absurdity". Its whole meaning lies in the author's language game. And the work of Beckett as a whole is a continuous movement towards the destruction of speech, bringing it out of the theater and literature.

3) two levels of reading the plot - as a parody of the world and as a parody of literature.

The need to create several layers of reading is caused by the lack of a reliable language for expressing a true idea, if one exists at all in their artistic world.

4) nonsense and a combination of incongruous

5) a person in the theater of the absurd is not capable of action.

The heroes of works of art of the absurd cannot complete a single action, are unable to carry out a single idea.

For example, in "Waiting for Godot" the characters wanted to commit suicide, but could not do it.

6) Ridiculous characters act as a hero, they do not know anything about the world and about themselves, declassed elements, or bourgeois, there are no heroes who have ideals and see the meaning of life. People are doomed to exist in an incomprehensible and unchanging world of chaos and absurdity.

Samuel Beckett

Waiting for Godot (compilation)

Characters

Tarragon.

Vladimir.

Pozzo.

Lucky.

Boy.

Act I

Village road. Tree. Evening. Estragon sits on the ground and tries to take off his shoe. Breathing heavily, she pulls it off with both hands. Exhausted, he stops, takes a breath, starts over. The scene repeats.

Included Vladimir.

Tarragon(stopping again). Bad business.

Vladimir(approaches him with small steps, spreading his stiff legs wide). I'm starting to feel the same way too. (He is silent, he thinks.) How many years have I driven this thought away from myself, I kept trying to persuade myself: Vladimir, think about it, maybe not everything is lost yet. And again rushed into battle. (Thinks, remembering the hardships of the struggle. Estragon.) I see you are here again.

Tarragon. Do you think?

Vladimir. Good to see you again. I thought you weren't coming back.

Tarragon. Me too.

Vladimir. We need to somehow mark our meeting. (Thinks.) Come on, get up, I'll hug you. (She holds out her hand to Estragon.) Tarragon(irritated). Wait, wait.

Vladimir(insulted, coldly). May I know where Monsieur deigned to spend the night?

Tarragon. In a ditch

Vladimir(in amazement). In a ditch?! Where?

Tarragon(not moving). There.

Vladimir. And you were not beaten?

Tarragon. They beat… Not very hard.

Vladimir. All the same? Tarragon. The same? Don't know.

Vladimir. So I'm thinking ... I've been thinking for a long time ... I keep asking myself ... what would you have turned into ... if it weren't for me ... (Decidedly.) In a miserable heap of bones, you can be sure.

Tarragon(touched to the quick). So what?

Vladimir(depressed). It's too much for one person. (Pause. Decisively.) On the other hand, it seems that now there is something to be upset about in vain. It was necessary to decide earlier, a whole eternity earlier, back in 1900.

Tarragon. Okay, that's enough. Help me get this shit off better. Vladimir. You and I would join hands and almost be the first to jump off the Eiffel Tower. We looked pretty good back then. And now it's too late - they won't let us climb it.

Tarragon with new force takes off his shoes.

What are you doing?

Tarragon. I take off my shoes. You might think you didn't have to.

Vladimir. As much as you can repeat - you need to take off your shoes every day. I could finally remember.

Tarragon(mournfully). Help me!

Vladimir. What hurts you?

Tarragon. Hurt! He still asks.

Vladimir(with bitterness). You might think that you are the only one suffering in this world. The rest don't count. That would have visited at least once in my shoes, something would probably have sung.

Tarragon. Were you in pain too?

Vladimir. Hurt! He still asks!

Tarragon(pointing finger). This is no reason to walk around unbuttoned.

Vladimir(leaning over). Well, yes. (Zips up his trousers.) One should not loosen up even in trifles.

Tarragon. What can I say, you always wait for the last moment.

Vladimir(thoughtfully). last moment... (Thinks.) You can wait, if there is something to wait. Whose words are these?

Tarragon. What, you don't want to help me?

Vladimir. Sometimes I think, because someday it will come. And I feel kind of weird. (Takes off his hat, looks into it, puts his hand in it, shakes it, puts it on again.) How should I say this? It seems to become easy and at the same time ... (looking for the right word) creepy. (With force.) Terrible! (Takes off his hat again, looks into it.) Wow. (He taps on his hat, as if hoping to shake something out of it, looks into it again, puts it on his head.) Well, well ...

Tarragon(at the cost of incredible effort, he finally takes off his shoe. Looks into it, puts his hand inside, turns it over, shakes it, looks to see if anything has fallen out of it, finds nothing, puts his hand in it again. Facial expression is absent). And what?

Vladimir. Nothing. Let me see.

Tarragon. There is nothing to see here.

Vladimir. Try to put it on again.

Tarragon(examining the leg). Let it air out a little. Vladimir. Here, admire - a man in all its glory: pounces on a boot when the leg is to blame. (Takes off his hat again, looks into it, puts his hand in, shakes it, taps on it, blows on it, puts it on his head.) I don't understand anything.

Pause. Estragon, meanwhile, stretches his leg, moves his fingers so that they are better blown by the wind.

One of the robbers was saved. (Pause.) Percentage-wise, quite honest. (Pause.) Gogo...

Tarragon. What?

Vladimir. Maybe we should repent?

Tarragon. In what?

Vladimir. Well, there ... (Trying to find a word.) Yes, it is hardly worth going into details. Tarragon. Isn't it because we were born into the world?

Vladimir begins to laugh, but immediately falls silent, clutching his lower abdomen with a distorted face.

Vladimir. I can't even laugh.

Tarragon. Here's the trouble.

Vladimir. Just smile. (He stretches his mouth into an incredibly wide smile, holds it for a while, then just as suddenly removes it.) Only this is not at all. Although... (Pause.) Gogo!

Tarragon(irritated). What else?

Vladimir. Have you read the Bible?

Tarragon. Bible? (Thinks.) Probably, once looked through.

Vladimir(surprised). Where? In a school for godless people?

Tarragon. For atheists or not, I don't know.

Vladimir. Or maybe you confuse it with prison?

Tarragon. Maybe. I remember a map of Palestine. Color. Very beautiful. The Dead Sea is pale blue. Just looking at him made me want to drink. I dreamed: that's where we'll spend Honeymoon. We will swim. Let's be happy.

Vladimir. You should have been a poet. Tarragon. I was. (Pointing to his rags.) Can't you see?

Vladimir. So what was I talking about... How's your leg?

Tarragon. Swells up.

Vladimir. Oh yes, I remembered those robbers. Do you know this story?

Tarragon. No.

Vladimir. Do you want me to tell you?

Tarragon. No.

Vladimir. So faster time will pass. (Pause.) This is the story of two villains who were crucified along with the Savior. They say…

Tarragon. With whom?

Vladimir. With the Savior. Two villains. They say that one was saved, and the other ... (looking for the right word) was doomed to eternal torment.

Tarragon. Salvation from what?

Vladimir. From hell

Tarragon. I'm leaving. (Does not move.)

Vladimir. Only now... (Pause.) I can't understand why... I hope my story doesn't tire you too much?

Tarragon. I don't listen.

Vladimir. I cannot understand why only one of the four evangelists reports this. After all, all four of them were there, well, or nearby. And only one mentions the rescued robber. (Pause.) Listen, Gogo, you could at least keep up the conversation for the sake of decency.

Tarragon. I'm listening to.

Vladimir. One of four. The other two have not a word about it at all, and the third says that both robbers slandered him.

Tarragon. Whom?

Vladimir. What wh...

History of creation

According to Beckett himself, he began writing "Waiting for Godot" in order to distract himself from prose, which, in his opinion, then ceased to succeed.

The play is out separate edition October 17, 1952, Minuit. The premiere took place on January 5, 1953 in Paris, the first performance on English language was held on August 3 in London.

Characters

• Vladimir
• Tarragon
• Pozzo
• Lucky
• Boy

Plot

The main characters of the play "Waiting for Godot" - Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo) seem to be stuck in time, nailed to one place waiting for a certain Godot, a meeting with whom, in their opinion, will bring meaning to their senseless existence and save them from the threats of a hostile the surrounding world. The plot of the play does not lend itself to an unambiguous interpretation. The viewer, at his own discretion, can define Godot as a specific person, God, a strong personality, Death, etc. In the course of some time, two more strange and ambiguous characters appear - Pozzo and Lucky. It is rather difficult to determine their relationship with each other, on the one hand, Lucky is a silent and weak-willed slave of Pozzi, on the other hand, his former teacher - but such an interpretation is also doubtful.

After chatting and arguing with the main characters for quite some time, Pozzo invites Lucky to think and dance, to which he resignedly agrees. Lucky's monologue is Beckett's witty parody of scientific dissertations and popular science articles, and is also bright pattern literary postmodern. After Lucky is exhausted, he and Pozzi leave, while Vladimir and Estragon remain to wait for Godot.

Soon a boy comes running to them - a messenger, saying that Godot will come tomorrow. The boy works as a shepherd, and his brother is beaten by the owner - Monsieur Godot. Estragon is fed up with everything that is happening and he decides to leave, leaving Vladimir his shoes, which are small for him, in the hope that someone will come and take them away, leaving his larger ones in exchange. With the onset of the morning, Gogo returns beaten and reports that ten people attacked him. She and Didi reconcile. Pozzo and Lucky come again, greatly changed - Pozzo is blind, and Lucky is dumb. This couple does not recognize (or pretends not to recognize) the main characters and continues on their way.

Didi and Gogo pass the time playing and swapping hats, one of which Lucky forgot. The boy comes running again and says that Monsieur Godot will come tomorrow. He does not remember Vladimir and the fact that he came yesterday.

The heroes decide to go in search of a rope to hang themselves if Monsieur Godot does not come tomorrow. But the play ends with the words "they don't move."

Theatrical productions in Russia

• - Theater "On the Kryukov Canal", dir. -